Special Session of the General Assembly to Review and Appraise the Implementation of Agenda 21

Late Breaking News from Earth Summit +5

Updated 27 June 1997

As of 3:00 am on 27 June 1997, negotiations were still underway on the remaining bracketed text in the documents that are supposed to be adopted by the UNGASS Plenary later today. Mostafa Tolba, Chair of the COW, told delegates they could not leave the building until all text in the draft documents was agreed, but a few outstanding issues remain and it is unclear when and if they will be resolved.

A number of items remained bracketed in the draft political statement and consultations were still going on at 3:00 am. In consultations on sectoral issues in the Proposed Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21, Saudi Arabia and 21 other countries attempted to reopen negotiations on energy. The EU countries conceded that the call for an international airline fuel tax was unlikely to survive in its present form. The Multi-Year Programme of Work for the CSD (1998-2002) was agreed as follows. The overriding issues are poverty/consumption and production patterns. The 1998 Sectoral theme will be "strategic approaches to freshwater management." The outstanding chapters of the SIDS Programme of Action will also be reviewed. In 2001, atmosphere and energy will be the sectoral themes. One 2001 cross-sectoral theme will be international cooperation for an enabling environment.

In the Ministerial Group on Forests, a new text was circulated calling for the establishment of the intergovernmental forum to implement the IPF recommendations and consider matters left pending by IPF. The forum would also "identify possible elements of and work towards a consensus for international arrangments and mechanisms, including a legally-binding instrument" and would report to the CSD in 1999. Based on that report, and on the decision by the CSD, "an international negotiation process on new arrangements... or a legally binding instrument" would be launched. A number of countries accepted the text as it stood and emphasized that it was very far from their original position of calling for an INC right away. Others introduced amendments, noting that the text as it currently stood posed difficulties for them. The Ministerial Group will meet again Friday morning.

The Ministerial Group on Climate Change produced a text noting that, at COP-3, the developed countries should seek a legally binding agreement with meaningful, equitable targets that will result in significant greenhouse reductions with specific timeframes such as 2005 and 2010. There were still some objections to language in this text.

The Co-Chairs of the Ministerial Group on Finance introduced a non-paper on finance issues in the draft political statement that: reconfirmed UNCED commitments; proposed efforts be made to halt the overall downward trend in ODA and reverse it by the end of the century; indicated that commitments are collective and are not accompanied by a guarantee; and noted that the most important sources of finance are domestic, both public and private, while the role of aid is to help. A number of developed and developing countries argued that they had extreme difficulty with this text. When the Co-Chairs said that the text would be sent to the COW as is, many objected and called for further negotiations.

Meanwhile, upstairs in the GA Plenary Hall, 34 government officials, 7 IGO and NGO representatives and US President Bill Clinton delivered statements. Many NGOs and delegates alike commented that Clinton's statement was weak. There had been hope that he might announce the administration's agreement to specific targets and timetables for carbon dioxide emissions reductions. While Clinton did mention that such targets were necessary, he did not mention any specific proposals. He also called for increased aid to developing countries.

Friday's issue of the Earth Negotiations Bulletin summarizes Thursday's meeting. You can also download the Earth Negotiations Bulletin in either text or PDF format.